Conditions and Fees

General Conditions of Use

The SFMF currently houses a range of geophysical, GPS, surveying, water sampling and quality, and soil sampling instruments and systems. Many of these instruments have been donated by faculty for use in SFMF activities; in return the SFMF houses, maintains, and services the instruments. The remaining instruments have been purchased directly for the SFMF to host programs within the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. The SFMF currently does not offer training on any of the equipment with the exception of the GPS units. As a result our services are limited to equipment loans for the time being.

Equipment Loans

The SFMF can provide loans of instruments subject to the following conditions:

I. The user is trained in the use of the equipment to the satisfaction of the SFMF manager. A number of the geophysical instruments (ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity systems for example) require the user to be familiar with their use due to complexity of the systems.

II. The length of the standard equipment loan period should not exceed 2 weeks in duration. Longer instrument loan periods can be arranged, subject to availability, through consultation with the SFMF Manager (subject to increased ‘wear and tear’ fees, see below).

III. Priority for reserving instruments will be given in the following order:
• Teaching requirements (taught classes and field courses),
• Research projects by faculty and grad students,
• Research projects by undergraduates.

IV. The user agrees to pay a small ‘wear and tear’ fee to cover a portion of the ongoing costs for maintenance, service, and replacement of the instruments. The fee is calculated as 1.5% of the replacement cost of each instrument, up to a maximum of $500. The ‘wear and tear’ fee and replacement cost for each instrument are outlined in the table below. Instruments whose replacement cost is <$500 are omitted from the payment of the ‘wear and tear’ fee as their replacement is covered under the annual operational budget.

Equipment loans for teaching purposes are exempt from the payment of the ‘wear and tear’ fee.

The ‘wear and tear’ fee is based on a loan period of 2 weeks, loans exceeding this period will incur an additional 50% charge on top of the original ‘wear and tear’ fee.

The majority of these fees are equivalent to just the mobilization charge if users were to rent from a commercial company.

Wear and Tear Fee

Manufacturer

Model

Description

Replacement Cost

Fee

DualEM

1S

EM Induction Imaging System

$20,000

$300

Geometrics

G-856

Proton Precession Magnetometer

$7,500

$113

Geometrics

Geode 24

24 Channel Seismometer

$35,000

$500

Geonics

EM16

VLF Receiver

$10,000

$150

Iris Instruments

Syscal R1+

Electrical Resistivity Imaging System

$40,000

$500

LaCoste & Romberg

Model G

Gravimeter

$50,000

$500

Sensors & Software

PulseEkko Pro

Ground Penetrating Radar

$70,000

$500

Sokkia

SET530 R3

Total Station

$13,000

$195

Trimble

GeoXT 6000

Handheld Field PC/GPS Receiver

$6,000

$150

Trimble

ProXT

GPS Receiver - Survey Grade

$3,000

$45

Trimble

Juno 3B

GPS Receiver - Mapping Grade

$800

$40

Fujitsu

Stylistic ST6012

Tablet Field PC

$3,000

$45

Juniper Systems

Allegro CX

Handheld Field PC

$3,500

$53

Panasonic

CF19, CF27, CF30

Toughbook Laptop

$5,000

$75

Geotech

Geopump 900-1280

Peristaltic Field Water Pump

$1,500

$23

Omega.com

Temperature Logger

Temperature Logger

$500

$8

Onset

Hobo Pendant Logger

Temperature Logger

$500

$8

General Conditions for Equipment Pool Loans

Insurance cover for equipment under the responsibility of Stanford affiliated faculty and students is provided by the Risk Management department. This insurance covers loss of the equipment while in the field and during transportation/shipment to or from the field. Should loss occur payment of the $1000 deductable on the insurance policy would be the responsibility of the recipient of the equipment loan. Recipients must provide an off-campus address where the equipment will be stored during the field deployment prior to collecting the

The SFMF manager will provide technical support for the equipment pool. However, the equipment manufacturer might only rectify serious problems but there are a range of common problems (blowing of circuit board fuses, and fixing electrical contact faults) that might be rectified quickly and easily

In the event of equipment being damaged it is the responsibility of the recipient of the equipment loan to report any problems to the SFMF Manager. The recipient of the equipment loan is responsible for any damage caused by negligence while under their care

Equipment must be checked out and checked back in again by the SFMF Manager